Final results from the 2004 Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours were released on 23 March in the publication Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia (cat. no. 6306.0). This survey collected information from a sample of employers about the earnings, hours paid for, method of setting pay, and other selected characteristics of their employees.

Data from this survey on the methods used to set employees' pay is included in the spotlight section of this publication (see Methods of setting pay).

LABOUR THEME PAGE

The ABS Labour Theme Page, available on the ABS web site, provides a guide to the range of ABS statistics on the labour market, as well as links to the latest data released.

LONGITUDINAL CENSUS DATASET

A discussion paper on Enhancing the Population Census Dataset: Developing a Longitudinal View (cat. no. 2060.0) will be released in April 2005. This paper presents ABS views on enhancing data from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. It includes details of the proposal, reasons why the ABS is considering enhancing the population census dataset, and benefits of this dataset for statistical and research purposes. Privacy and confidentiality aspects are also discussed.

ABS is seeking the views of the public and ABS data users on this proposal, and the paper outlines the public submission process.

The annual measures of labour underutilisation have been updated. These measures include groups of people such as the unemployed, the underemployed and discouraged jobseekers. The rates for September 2004 are included in the spotlight 'Annual measures of labour underutilisation' and in tables 4.1 and 4.2 in this publication.

ABS EMAIL NOTIFICATION SERVICE

By subscribing to this free service, you will be kept informed via email of the latest releases of ABS products. To subscribe, follow the link from the ABS home page <http://www.abs.gov.au>, provide your email address, and select your topics of interest.

The statistics shown are the latest available at 24 March 2005. Data sources for the tables in this publication are listed in Appendix 1.

ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS

The spreadsheets and data cubes referenced in this publication are available on the ABS web site at <http://www.abs.gov.au> [AusStats - Publications and Data], then [Data Cubes] or [Time Series Spreadsheets].

INQUIRIES

For information about other Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistics and services, please refer to the back of this publication.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Assistant Director, Labour Market Statistics Section, on Canberra (02) 6252 7636.

LABOUR MARKET SUMMARY

KEY MEASURES

% change from

Measure

Series type

Period

Current figure

Previous quarter(a)

Previous year(b)

Employed

Persons

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

9,881.3

0.9

3.0

Full-time

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

7,057.5

0.8

2.8

Part-time

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

2,823.8

1.1

3.5

Part-time employment as a proportion of total employment

%

Trend

Feb 2005

28.6

(c)0.1

(c)0.1

Unemployed

Persons

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

526.2

-2.9

-9.4

Looking for full-time work

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

379.0

-1.6

-10.5

Looking for part-time work

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

147.2

-6.2

-6.4

Unemployment rate

Persons

%

Trend

Feb 2005

5.1

(c)-0.2

(c)-0.7

Long-term unemployment

Persons

'000

Trend

Feb 2005

100.4

-6.2

-17.0

As a proportion of total unemployment

%

Trend

Feb 2005

19.1

(c)-0.6

(c)-1.7

Annual labour underutilisation rates(d)

Long-term unemployment rate

%

Original

Sep 2004

1.2

na

(c)-0.1

Unemployment rate

%

Original

Sep 2004

5.5

na

(c)-0.4

Underemployment rate

%

Original

Sep 2004

5.6

na

(c) -

Labour force underutilisation rate

%

Original

Sep 2004

11.1

na

(c)-0.4

Extended labour force underutilisation rate

%

Original

Sep 2004

12.2

na

(c)-0.3

Children living without an employed parent(e)

%

Original

Jun 2004

17.2

na

(c)0.1

Labour force participation rate

Persons aged 15-64 years

%

Trend

Feb 2005

75.5

(c)1.2

(c)0.7

Total persons

%

Original

Feb 2005

64.1

(c)0.3

(c)0.5

Actual hours worked

Aggregate weekly hours

mill. hours

Original

Feb 2005

347.4

2.7

3.3

Average weekly hours - Persons

hours

Original

Feb 2005

35.2

1.9

-0.1

Average weekly hours - Full-time

hours

Original

Feb 2005

42.2

1.1

-0.4

Average weekly hours - Part-time

hours

Original

Feb 2005

17.0

2.9

0.5

Part-time workers

Proportion who preferred to work more hours

%

Original

Feb 2005

26.3

(c)0.4

(c)-0.2

Wage price index

Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses

index no.

Trend

Dec qtr 2004

103.1

0.9

3.5

Average weekly earnings

Full-time adult ordinary time earnings

$

Trend

Nov 2004

973.20

1.1

3.6

All employees total earnings

$

Trend

Nov 2004

766.10

1.0

3.0

Compensation of employees

Household income account

$m

Trend

Dec qtr 2004

100,153

1.6

6.8

Average earnings (National Accounts basis - nominal) per week

$

Trend

Dec qtr 2004

898

0.6

3.2

Industrial disputes

Working days lost

'000

Original

Dec qtr 2004

51.9

-44.4

-65.7

Working days lost per 1,000 employees

number

Original

Dec qtr 2004

6.1

-46.1

-66.9

Job vacancies

Australia

'000

Trend

Nov 2004

135.8

6.1

28.7

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

na not available

(a) Same period previous quarter (monthly data is presented for the middle month of each quarter).

(b) Same period previous year.

(c) Change is in percentage points.

(d) See table 4.1 or the Glossary for further explanation of labour underutilisation rates.

(e) As a proportion of all children aged under 15 years. See the Explanatory Notes for information on family data.

EMPLOYMENT: TREND SERIES

Full-time and total employmentMales and females

PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT: TREND SERIES

Proportion of total employment, MalesProportion of total employment, Females

Unless otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence together with any terms, conditions and exclusions as set out in the website Copyright notice. For permission to do anything beyond the scope of this licence and copyright terms contact us.